PERSPECTIVES IN WEALTH CREATION

Greetings!!! Welcome back to my media space. Let's start off, fairy speaking am not your high flying twenty - something year old guy driving a prestigious four wheel drive car or living in a posh home in the suburbs of Nairobi Kenya. And I have no large bank or cash balances. Forget it, am fairy worth no more than $ 300 period. Am this guy who has only been hardworking just to earn and win fairly. I didn't sell candies over tea and lunch breaks as an eight year kid. What I have is purely out of God's blessings, competence and diligent hands.

THAT IS TOO LITTLE

But wait a minute, that's meager compared to other kids doing well than I am. Sincerely speaking been wondering what I should do to improve my financial position. And I have found it. It's financial planning which is the key to accumulate wealth. It's the secret, trick and rule in solving the puzzle around money matters. Wanting to accumulate wealth than riches is a decision you've to decisively make. It will keep you from being greedy and falling into self-destruction

THE KEY TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM

Let's begin to unpack my perspective. My wealth has so far come through unstructured personal savings. Times I save large percentages of my income and others significantly less or none at all depending on periodic financial needs. It has worked but this ain't growing my wealth at a rate I so desire. Desperately, I’ve been searching a better formula and found none better than in the biblical story of Joseph in Egypt. In a vision, God revealed to Pharaoh that the world would experience a great famine to last 7 years. This is to be presided by 7 years of bounty harvest. Joseph was recruited to come up with an agrarian policy that would make Egypt food secure in the coming days of famine.

And so he gave instructions all over Egypt that during the seven years of sufficiency and abundance, every household must give to Pharaoh a fifth of total harvest yearly. The food would then be held in the reserve of the country. It worked! Egypt feed the whole world in the years of famine and it prospered. The Pharaohs accumulated a lot of wealth and bought all land from Egyptians a practice even today that exist where peasants hold land on rent for production.

LESSONS I HAVE PICKED

These are the lessons I picked, one, make use of financial or investment knowledge available, two have a structured savings plan when you have income and have the guts to implement it, and lastly make wise investments on your savings. You’ll reap bountifully and enjoy your hard work after you retire or in the eventuality one stream of income is cut. Our greatest undoing - me included is failure to be disciplined on what percentage of our total income we should save. And like me, we actually save when we've overstretched our expenditures. In our 30 streams of incomes we probably save from one stream and when we do, we choose a savings plan that isn't hard on us. We save on our convenience. In so doing, we ain't concerned when we save nothing. If we’ve to realistic in our savings then we must project what to save and in what period we want what. If we want to be sufficient for 20 years then we must save for an equally amount of time.

CONSISTENCY IN SAVING

It's common sense that it's when we are young, full of energy and little load to saddle on our back that we should plan the future with our money. Yet we completely ignore this fact. With that knowledge we still completely act as if we're unaware. Too bad! I want to recommend saving a fifth of your income every day. That's 20% of your income/revenue. Then put it in a ‘reserve” - an investment that will bring good returns when it matures. This could be inform of buying shares, setting up a production plant or in agribusiness or in an insurance premiums.

I must however caution you from investing for speculation that's the last thing to do. I'd go for an investment that earns a profit or interest. Investment advice is all over, why not make good use of it?

GROWING $ 20 INTO AN EXCESS OF $1500 IN 3 YEARS

Let's take it a step further with a hypothetical case, if I earn a minimum of $200 monthly, I'd save about $ 40 using this model, right? Saving consistently for one year brings total savings grossly at $480. Good money to start with. Of I invested this on a promising start up relatively profitable by buying shares from its owner, I could reasonably earn a similar amount at the end of the year totaling to a wealth of about $720 by the end of year 2 and in excess of $1500 by the end of year three. You may not be automatically lucky to find a good start up to invest in but what if you invested in an investment club that want to set up a warehouse to collect food during harvest and distribute it when it's out of season, that would gross you about 4-6 times your initial investment in a span of 3 years. Sounds great, is it?

Now walk with me in this, from my initial $300 I want to grow it 7 fold this year. All I need to do is save as much from my streams of incomes and make wise investments in technology start ups and financial markets. Next article will show you how to create multiple streams of incomes so that you can save as much.

Have a reflective life. Remember to stay in touch with me at jeremiahwakamu@gmail.com or on Facebook Jeremiaho Wakamu to keep this discussion going. And again referrals though you social media network/connection and word of mouth is the best you can do for this blog.

LORD, SEND US TO BATTLE

Greetings, Welcome back to this blog space for another exciting episode of inspiration. As we ushered this New Year, I was ready to pop a bottle of champagne. Indeed I thought I really had a good year especially in here. And I honestly thought I should. But I soon realized I needed none of the partying. I simply tucked away the wine and deeply engaged my mind, soul and spirit concerning 2016 going forward.

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS: A RITUAL?

Now that it’s at the beginning of a new year, it’s time to set the agendas of your life. Not necessarily because that’s a ritual that we need to do after every first of January but because this date always signifies the start of a new time slice. Meaning? It’s the start of a new season that brings new opportunities to the lives of people. Really wonder what life would be without fixed time slices in terms of years. Well, this date should provide us with time for deeper soul searching, deeper reflections, revisions and setting new goals in life.

BIBLICAL JOSHUA

And so it’s in the course of strategically thinking about this year’s agenda that I thought it’s no time for celebrations yet. Specifically for me, this is a year to do more things, to excel in all aspects of life than I have before. I’ve been reading Bible passages in the book of Joshua for quite some time now but it had no impact before like it did this time. From the first chapter, Joshua is introduced as a servant of God and a former assistant to Moses. Moses was the man appointed of God to lead the Children of Israel from Egypt. He was leading them to Canaan – a land flowing with honey and milk promised to their forefathers’ ages ago. However he had died along the way and Joshua was picked in his place to lead the pilgrims to Canaan. It’s in this First chapter that we find Joshua called to honour, having been long used to business. Joshua was trained up under the command of God through Moses.

MUST BELIEVE GOD AND "GO OVER"

Such – having gone through personal, character and spiritual mentorship - is the fittest to rule. He had learned to obey, follow and command. He was more diligent in doing good. God commands him to arise and go over to Jordan. At this place and at this time the banks were overflowed. Joshua had no bridge or boats, and yet he had to believe that God, having ordered the people over, would open a way.

He only has to encourage himself with the promise and presence of God. Even when he has a sense of his own infirmities that dishearten him, he must reassure himself that God is all-sufficient. Because he has been commanded, called and commissioned to do it. When we are in the way of duty, we have reason to be strong and very bold irrespective of the fact that we’re ‘not enough-ness.’

HIS RESPONSE TO 'MOVE OVER"

Joshua says to the people, “You shall pass over Jordan, and shall possess the land; because God had said so.” He honoured the truth of God by no staggering on the promise of God. The people of Israel engage to obey Joshua. They answered, “All that thou commandest us to do we will readily do, without murmuring or disputing and where you send us we will go.”

OUR RESPONSE THIS YEAR

That is the basis of my agenda and tagline this year, “Send me to battle”. In my resolutions and vision this year, I am inaudibly saying I will go for it. I will conceive dreams, visions and dreams. I will be responsive to my passions, godly insights and vision. I can’t simply be that unfair to pretend that God isn’t pushing me on the edge with his ideas that would better my life and that of his people.

I will position my life and heart to what will bring Glory to God through my faithfulness in using my talent, skills and relations I have with people. I will ambitiously pursue life without complaining. I will approach life without fear. Pursue them I will not give up. He has promised me better things beyond than what I have now. There’s more honor in pushing convictions and dreams than tucking it away.

For me and everyone, we must have faith in what God called and commissioned us to do before the beginning of the world. Pursue it with all our hearts, strength and will without wavering. To us, we must not be veiled see impossibilities only, rather we must see possibilities in making profits in business than losses, we must envision personal growth in our own lives than stagnations, we must see the possibilities of being firsts and not the lasts. We must see recovery to our health than only see sickness and worsening health issues on the way. We must not fear but have confidence.

WE MUST NOT WAIT ANY LONGER

If it’s time to move from the business you’ve been for too long, then we must not wait. Holding on to it will do us no good. It will hinder us from experiencing new successes. Do not wait any more to resign a job you are not happy about. The more you hold on, the more you continue to suffer. Break and move forward. Do not regret forever because you’ve failed for too long. Make this year your year to fight your failures. Take the bull by its horns. Face those failures. Conquer them and experience new joys.

Why must you continue to shy away from taking pay cuts, yet you are sure by taking lesser position in a different smaller company will be much better? Why are you still afraid to take a leading role in that project? Or are you still unmarried because you fear you will not make a good husband/wife? And you know absolutely there’s no enough reason to justify average?

This year we must resolve to be different. We must not entertain being ridiculously complacent. We must beat laziness. We must admit tingly love taking more risks. If God has said, “Move over”, must we doubt his ability to save, help and enable us to move? No, it can’t be. He is more than able to accept our invitation to be with us so long as we make it our ambition to follow and stick by his word. Would you not join me in saying, “Lord, send me to battle and I will go?”

CONCLUSION

Have a reflective year. Remember to stay in touch with me at jeremiahwakamu@gmail.com or on Facebook Jeremiaho Wakamu to keep this discussion going. And again referrals though you social media network/connection and word of mouth is the best you can do for this blog.